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Showing posts from 2016

Try the World: Japan

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We're going to interrupt our regularly scheduled program to talk about Try the World. Try the World is a subscription box where you get food from a different country with every box. I saw this and immediately knew that this was something I had to try. My first box was France. It was nice and fun but different that what I was expecting. There were preserves and caramels and honey and tea. Those are great, but I can get them here. Yes, I know that they were French and therefore probably way more special, but I don't think my palate is discerning enough for that. Plus none of that really involved making food. I did get some finishing salt though, so that was kinda cool. The next one was Japan. It was completely the opposite. There were some candies and caramels and tea, but most of the rest was so that you could cook one dish: Okonomiyaki. Basically, Japanese cabbage pancakes. I was really excited to do this. New and different, yay! Then things started to go w

Indonesia

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Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia. It is the third most populous democracy in the world and the largest majority-Muslim nation. It is the 15th largest country by area, which makes it less than three times the size of Texas. It consists of over 17,000 islands, about 6000 of which are inhabited. Over 255 million people live there, making it the 5th most populous country in the world. The capital, Jakarta, is located on the island of Java. With over 145 million people, it is the most populous island in the world. Read more at the CIA World Factbook and, of course, Wikipedia . I know it has been a long time, but in case you have forgotten, I actually own a Southeast Asian cookbook. I have only gotten to use it once before, for Cambodia , with some great results. In reviewing entries to try to figure out if I had used the book for more than that I realized that we haven't done many Asia countries recently. That will certainly be changing here soon! Even wi

India the Third

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For India the Third we mix things up a bit. This is a Northern India recipe that comes to me via my former boss in Virginia. She's actually from Pittsburgh, but we will still take her word on authentic Indian cuisine. :-) We may have gotten a little excited about Christmas and I have relatively few pictures of just Joey... Not only that, but we were in Colorado! Nothing better than trying out a new curry recipe on the in-laws, right? Kevin prepped by sharpening some knives. First note: make sure you actually use a Dutch oven, or something that is intended to go on the stove top, not actually in the oven. It is very important. Anyway! Cumin seeds and cinnamon sticks? Not the way I'm used to starting a heavily-spiced dish, so let's try it! And of course onions. Always onions. I read in one of the comments to mix the chicken and yogurt and some spices ahead of time to enhance the flavor, but I can't find it for the life of me now. That's what I did

India the Second

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This is another recipe from Sadie, and therefore from the Kerala region. We went the vegetarian route this time and picked Aloo Gobi , a cauliflower dish. According to the description this food is in Bend it Like Beckham? I don't remember that particular scene but I now have some high school religion class memories coming back... It said to cut the cauliflower into eighths, which still made some pretty big chunks. Eight of them, in fact. I think this part may have either been lost in translation or I had an abnormally large head of cauliflower. I also apparently didn't take pictures during the process? As always, it started by sauteeing some onions. Then more coriander (but really cilantro), turmeric, and other spices. Seeing any similarities from last time? There were also potatoes in addition to the cauliflower to get coated in the curry sauce. It called for Garam Masala as well and more cilantro added at the end. I'm seeing lots of trends. Completed

India

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Picture from the state of Kerala, India courtesy of user Thangaraj Kumaravel on Flickr . India has an incredibly long and rich history which I could not do justice in this blog. Suffice to say there are a lot of influences in India and it influences the world. It is in Southern Asia and is the seventh biggest country in the world. It is slightly more than a third the size of the US. The World Factbook lists at least 13 spoken languages. It has the second highest population in the world at over 1.2 billion. Read more! India is a country I've been looking forward to since starting this journey. I had some grand plans. Different recipes from different parts of the country! Sharing food with friends! Finding some amazing curries! I got some of this done. I did multiple Indian recipes, but not necessarily from widely varying areas. Instead I asked some people I know that either lived in India for a while or had Indian ties to send me some recipes and I tries some of thos